


Advent 20

by darksquall, lanapanda



Series: Science Boys Advent 2012 [7]
Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Fluff, M/M, d'awww best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-13
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-21 00:14:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/591287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darksquall/pseuds/darksquall, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanapanda/pseuds/lanapanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's time for Tony to finally let his best man in on the secret that he's getting married.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Advent 20

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: The characters and places contained herein do not belong to me and I am making no money from this.
> 
> (Sorry we're a little late. RL happened, but we're working on catching up!)

They’d actually managed a full day of work. No sneaking out early, no long lunch, no impromptu errands that ran for hours -- just a solid day of work in the lab, reworking a couple of configurations on energy outputs for the larger versions of the arc reactor, a few test cases, and a lot of paperwork. It felt productive to Tony, though if he’d been honest with himself, part of the reason he’d been on his best behavior was the need to ground himself a little from the continual high-flying euphoria that had taken over his perceptions from the moment Bruce had said yes.  
  
In short, Tony was coasting on a chemical high and he knew it. But unlike the other highs he was familiar with, this one showed no signs of abating or crashing. He felt just as light and full of energy when they got back to the penthouse at the end of the day as he did first thing in the morning even without his usual breakfast of caffeine and deep-fried sugar and it had been this way for days. Even through telling Pepper about the wedding and yelling at lawyers and having to coax the oven with gentle words and profuse praise to get it to agree to work again, (though it still refused to warm up past 275 degrees fahrenheit) the euphoria had stayed.  
  
So Tony wasn’t _too_ surprised when the end of the day rolled around and he was still feeling very good, despite the fact that he now had the task of both informing his best friend that he was getting married, and asking him to be the best man with less than three weeks’ notice. At least the set up for asking was easy -- Rhodey had a meeting in the city on his way through to some military training exercise, and Coulson had tipped Tony off to that fact early enough that he was able to press Rhodey into promising to drop by for pizza and beer before he was out of town again.  
  
Rhodey had not seen him and Bruce together very often, but that was hardly a measure of disapproval. Lt. Colonel James Rhodes was a busy man, and the amount of time that he and Tony got to hang out was precipitously low. But even with that catch-as-catch-can scheduling, Rhodey knew that Tony and Bruce were more to each other than just lab partners. He’d never said anything about it, other than to tease Tony out of the starry eyed look he got when discussing Bruce’s prototyping sequences.  
  
Bruce kissed Tony out of his reverie as he walked past, carrying the custom printed wedding invitations that had arrived earlier in the day. They had just finished a successful production run of the glitter packets that were safely explosive while still putting out the most glitter per square foot upon opening, and Bruce had volunteered to arm... erm... _address_ their invitations by hand.  
  
“You know it’s up to you. I can still be moral support but if you want to talk to him alone, that’s fine with me, too.” Bruce said with a reassuring pat to Tony’s shoulder. Reading Tony’s mind was becoming something of a talent for Bruce and Tony still wasn’t sure if it was comforting or terrifying in its implications.  
  
“Mmm,” Tony began as he came up for air from that kiss. “Well... maybe you could just... be around? He’s only stopping in on his way through to whatever base they’ve got him tucked into for the week.”  
  
This time, Bruce’s kiss settled against Tony’s cheek, making him blush for the twenty-seventh time in one day. “You guys use the lounge and I’ll be in the den finishing up the invitations.”  
  
“Perfect. Thank you,” Tony said with a smile. He wasn’t nervous over Rhodey’s reaction -- Tony was roughly 97.5% certain that Rhodey would be happy for them. But he was also 99.9997% sure that Rhodey was going to tease him. And there was always the chance (albeit a slim one, say 11.3%) that his best friend would say ‘no’ to being his best man. Whether for work or some other commitment. Rhodey always took prior commitments seriously, and Tony wasn’t giving him much notice.  
  
Tony’s concern must have showed in his facial expression, because Bruce gave him a hug and said, “Come and find me when you’re done,” before he left Tony to his task of ordering pizza for them all.  
  
Pizza delivery at the Tower never took more than fifteen minutes. Tony had a particular pizzeria that he liked to order from, and he made it known to their entire staff that he would tip at least $50 per person (sometimes more, depending on the order) as long his food was there on time with no mistakes. It worked out in instances like these, when Tony knew that Rhodey would show in about 20 minutes.  
  
It meant that Tony had had just long enough to put in the order, change from business casual clothes into casual-casual clothes, and then pick up the pizza from the lower landing before JARVIS informed him that Rhodey was on his way up.  
  
Tony let Rhodey get the security door for himself, since he was still one of only a few people who could do so, and he knew his friend enjoyed having that special status. So instead of meeting Rhodey at the door, Tony took the time to fix plates and beer, which was how Rhodey managed to run into Bruce in the den, first.  
  
“Hey, how’s it going, Doc?” Rhodey asked with an easy grin. He’d been very accepting of Bruce, though in the beginning that had largely been for Tony’s sake. As the months went on and Tony’s continued happiness (not to mention the huge uptick in responsibility levels) became apparent, Rhodey had more or less decided that Bruce was good for Tony.  
  
“Good, thank you. And you?” Bruce looked up from where he was addressing envelopes to smile at Rhodey. Despite being in the same branch of the military as Ross, Rhodey had never acted as though Bruce was a threat, which was in and of itself worth smiling about, nevermind the news that Tony was about to give.  
  
“Can’t complain. I don’t get all the toys that the cool kids have these days, but we’re pretty well-equipped and somehow my mission status got re-organized, so I’ve actually got a Christmas holiday.” Pretty unusual for a single guy without much family to pull the Christmas holiday, but Rhodey wasn’t going to complain -- he hadn’t taken any PTO in eight months, so he was about due for a break anyway.  
  
"Sounds like a good deal at least. You'll have to talk to Tony about toys though, I have some Christmas cards to write. You two have a good evening," Bruce managed to say before Tony interjected.  
  
“We can do toys. Maybe. Provided I don’t find derivatives all over the place afterwards,” Tony grinned at Rhodey, offered him a plate of pizza and a beer, then slung his free arm over Rhodey’s shoulder to steer him away from the cards in question. “C’mon, we’ll hang out in the game room. Long time no see.”  
  
“Did you really call me _just_ to hang out for half an hour before I need to hop a plane to McGuire?” Rhodey tipped his head and raised an eyebrow as Tony shut the door to the game room behind them.  
  
“Mostly, yeah,” Tony said with a nod. He set down his own pizza and had a swig of his beer. “It’s been what? Two months? Three? You’re a pretty hard guy to keep up with Rhodey, even if War Machine does have GPS tracking installed.”  
  
“So you want to tell me the other reason you invited me over before or after we talk about what I’ve been up to for the past three months?” Rhodey grinned and sat down in a chair. Occasionally they would play pool or poker in here, but the big screen television rarely got used -- Tony liked to talk, and following one of his conversations took concentration, especially if he was explaining how one of his new developments worked under the hood.  
  
“Actually, I thought we’d talk toys,” Tony said and he pulled up a view screen for himself and another for Rhodey as he sank down into the chair next to his best friend. “I’ve been working on a few things, and you’re right -- War Machine hasn’t gotten an upgrade in a while.”  
  
Rhodey put his hand over the screen. “Wait. Before I look at this, I need you to answer me honestly. Is whatever you’re going to ask me to do actually legal?”  
  
“Yes. It is 100% absolutely legal.... in the place and manner in which I would ask you to do it.” Tony said. Sometimes, Tony liked being meticulously honest just to see the look of exasperation on Rhodey’s face. Here was a man with incredible military power, wicked sharp in engineering (not a genius, but still very smart) and more medals than he had pecs to hold them. Yet he still got the same little worried frown he had way back in college when Tony would suggest playing pool to hustle enough money for an impromptu trip to Vegas.  
  
“Am I going to be shot at?”  
  
“My god, I hope not,” Tony said with a laugh. It would be just their luck that whatever villain of the week was making Fury’s life miserable would track him down to the wedding, but Tony refused to let himself think about it.  
  
“Alright then, show me what you’ve got,” Rhodey said and he moved his hand away from the screen and leaned back in the chair with a slice of pizza -- philly steak, provolone and mushroom pizza to be precise --  and took a look at the diagrams that swam into view on the interface. “As long as this is absolutely not another 2 AM ballistics test.”  
  
“Hey, I only asked you to do that once.”  
  
“Once was enough, believe me.” Rhodey laughed and shook his head. He knew Tony well enough to know that whatever the favor was, it was a big one. Tony didn’t bring out the R &D specs for just anything. And he hated potentially giving the military more access to his tech. Rhodey had been more careful with it since the incident at Stark Expo a few years back, but there were always people trying to peek under the hood.  
  
Tony pulled up the specs on the upgrades for War Machine - radar stealth capabilities, laser-guided missiles, a new targeting system, auxiliary shielding...  “So, what do you think so far?”  
  
Rhodey whistled, impressed. “Very sweet tech, as always. But you know you don’t have to set me up with all this to get me to help with whatever it is you need help with, right?”  
  
“Well, it’s kind of a big favor.”  
  
“Not getting any smaller by stalling, Stark.”  
  
“It’s like this... “ Tony almost blurted it out the same way he had at the lawyer’s office, but that seemed too blunt. Rhodey had really only seen them together a handful of times. Better to not put him entirely on the spot all at once. “... I’m going to need you to cover for Iron Man for a few weeks. Starting right after Christmas.”  
  
Rhodey raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I can do that, Tony. What, are you working on a major upgrade or...?”  
  
“I’m... going to be busy. On a trip. With Bruce.”  
  
Rhodey laughed. “Damn, Tony. Must be a pretty serious trip if you’re leaving the suit behind.” He nudged Tony with a grin. “Is he out there writing cute little couple Christmas cards from the two of you?”  
  
“Close. But I’m not done asking my favor yet.” Tony felt a wash of relief as Rhodey kept right on teasing and didn’t seem at all put off by the idea of his best friend and another guy going off on a romantic getaway.  
  
“Alright, what else then? You want me to mail your cards for you?”  
  
“No, I want you to be the best man at my wedding. I’ll be on my honeymoon right after Christmas so --” Tony ducked out of the way as Rhodey sputtered beer in surprise. “Was that a yes?”  
  
“Married, Tony? _Married?_ You?” Rhodey leaned in, looking into Tony’s eyes searchingly. “You... you aren’t kidding.”  
  
“No, I’m not kidding! We’re getting married on Christmas day and who else would I ask to be my best man but you, Rhodey?”  
  
Rhodey’s expression slowly transformed from wide-eyed shock to a pleased grin and he clapped Tony on the back. “Congratulations. So, those are the wedding invitations he’s writing out there? Does he know you’re asking me to be the best man?” Then he stood up and was at the door in three quick strides, opening it to peer out at Bruce.  
  
Bruce glanced up just in time to see Rhodey’s face as it disappeared back into the game room, courtesy of the fact that Tony had hopped up and followed Rhodey, nabbing him by the collar to tug him back into the room. “Of course he knows. Stop leering at my fiancé.”  
  
Rhodey snickered. “I’m not leering. Just wondering who I report to for all the wedding stuff. Does _he_ have a best man?”  
  
“I think he’s going to ask Nat. Or Cupid. We’ll get it sorted out. This is you saying yes, right?”  
  
“Hell yes it’s me saying yes!” Rhodey caught Tony off-guard in the brief hug that followed. “You’re happy, you’re working, Manhattan hasn’t blown up or been set on fire from one of your parties in over a year. I am 110% in favor of you getting married, Tony Stark.”  
  
“Even when it’s to Bruce Banner?”  
  
“Especially when it’s to Bruce Banner, as long as he’s cool with it and doesn’t think he’s sending off Christmas party invitations or something.” Rhodey grinned and headed back out into the den. He cleared his throat and politely waited until Bruce looked up again before he spoke. ”So, I hear congratulations are in order.”  
  
Bruce held up an envelope decorated in red and gold and green bells with glittery ink on a snow white paper. "Thank you, Rhodey."  
  
Rhodey closed the small distance between them and gave Bruce a manly hug. ”You’re welcome. Do I need to coordinate a suit or are you two going to forgive me for having an Air Force uniform?”  
  
“That... is entirely up to Bruce,” Tony chimed in from the doorway, pleased that Rhodey was so happy about the news. Personally, Tony didn’t mind the military uniforms, but he wanted to give Bruce the final say so in the decision just because he knew Bruce had so many bad memories attached to military installations.  
  
Tony watched his fiancé hug his best friend. Bruce smiled at him, still holding Rhodey’s invitation in one hand. "I have no problem with the Air Force uniform. It just depends what you're going to be most comfortable in."  
  
“Well, since you two want to get married at the speed of light, I think the uniform is going to be our best bet. That also means I’m going to need to get a few things done on my end, so I can’t hang out quite so long tonight, gents.” Rhodey gave Bruce one more pat on the back before he let go.  
  
Bruce adjusted his glasses with his free hand and smiled at them both. “You know I can't deny anything he asks of me.” He nodded towards Tony.  
  
“I know you have the patience of a saint, which is pretty much a requirement if you’re going to marry this guy.” Rhodey grinned.  
  
“Don’t make me send you away with no pizza, Rhodes.” Tony managed to look stern for half a second.  
  
“I actually thought it was the other way around,” Bruce said with a smile at Tony’s teasing.  
  
“I think we’re both being pretty patient, given that we still have to wait almost three weeks until we get married.”  
  
Rhodey laughed and shook his head as Bruce tugged Tony in for a gentle kiss on the cheek. It was funny, watching the Great Tony Stark turn bright red over something as innocent as a kiss.  
  
“Okay, yes, I do need the patience of a saint,” Bruce murmured after the kiss.  
  
“Well... I’m gonna let you two go back to planning. I’ll handle all the best man stuff that you’ve got time for, so call me before you plan anything crazy, Tony.” Rhodey didn’t need a neon sign with arrows to point him at the fact that those two were already acting like newlyweds. He started to edge for the door, but Bruce stopped him with a hand on his arm.  
  
“Mmhm, call you. No crazy plans. Got it,” Tony recited with a smile as he watched Bruce put the envelope into Rhodey’s hand.  
  
“Here, take your invitation. I'll make sure he calls - especially when I get a chance to talk to my best man."  
  
“Perfect, and thank you,” Rhodey replied with a smile, and he turned the card over to look at Bruce’s neat handwriting on the front. “You’re really doing these by hand? Must be a very small party for real.”  
  
“I told you small party,” Tony said with a faint huff that was entirely faked.  
  
“I remember the last ‘small party’ Tony. There were 157 people there.” And that wasn’t counting the 20 or so party crashers that got in because they were pretty. It occurred to Rhodie that Tony hadn’t thrown a party like that in... well, not since before Bruce came to the tower. The track record of responsibility was astonishing, actually.  
  
Bruce shook his head and smiled before he said, “Eight guests. I guess two could bring guests and I'm thinking of asking someone else if it's okay with Tony so fourteen max including ourselves.”  
  
“Of course it’s okay! You can invite whoever you want, Bruce.” Now that they were all decided, Tony dared to kiss Bruce on the lips, just lightly. It was his first time kissing Bruce on the lips in front of his best friend, the same best friend who had teased him often enough about kissing Pepper that he knew there would be teasing incoming. He was hoping for teasing, actually -- teasing from Rhodey meant everything was fine, he was cool with it and happy. If he was too serious, then it meant he felt obligated, and that was the last thing he wanted to do.  
  
“I was thinking of asking my cousin, since she's all the family I have left,” Bruce murmured when Tony broke that kiss.  
  
“I’d love to meet her.”  
  
Bruce smiled. "Okay, I'll call her tomorrow.  
  
Fortunately, Tony needn’t have worried about teasing. “Sounds like a plan then. I’ll leave you two to get the invitations done, in between the mouth to mouth.” Rhodey grinned and headed for the door.  
  
“No need to be jealous, Rhodey,” Bruce called after him in a little tease of his own.  
  
“Oh I won’t be. Isn’t there some wedding tradition of the best man getting to kiss the bride?” Rhodey waggled his eyebrows in a credible impression of Tony.  
  
“Hey. Don’t you have a plane to catch?” Tony was trying not to smile and failing miserably. Okay, best man/best friend and lover/husband-to-be getting along well. That was a weight Tony didn’t even realize he’d been carrying until their easy banter made it float away.  
  
Rhodey just laughed at them both, gave Tony and Bruce a wave, then let himself out of the penthouse.  
  
Bruce shook his head a little. "Wait... which one of us is the bride?"  
  
“Neither.”  
  
Bruce chuckled and then stole another kiss, wrapping his arms around Tony to hug him close. "Okay. Just wait until he meets Jennifer.”  
  
”Mm. She likes military guys?”  
  
“Well... she's six two, and she'll fit with the wedding theme.”  
  
Tony had to think about that for a moment, but then realization dawned and he laughed against Bruce’s shoulder. ”Well, at least Rhodey’s taller than she is. But maybe not if she wears heels.”  
  
“There are always heels. _Always_.”  
  
“We should set them up on a nice date before we escape.”  
  
Bruce hugged Tony closer at the suggestion, then smiled wickedly as he noted they were once again home alone. "So, I have one invitation to write, and then maybe we can... get carried away.  
  
“... I’ll blow on the ink so it dries faster.”  



End file.
